Faith is Evidence-Based and Experience-Based

UV 1270/10,000 Evidence and Experience-Based Faith
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11 v 1

The eternal realms are unseen. Hence, God sees if we are worthy of eternal life by examining our faith. Faith is a confident, persistent, growing and patient hope. We do not hope for things we can see as it is already within our perception and our grasp. It is a hope for the unseen. Faith informs us that the silence and invisibility of God is not evidence of His non-existence, ignorance, inability or indifference. Faith is the anchor of our soul that gives us stability and security in the midst of swirling change even as a large ship is held in its place near the pier by its anchor. It is like a baton that we first begin to hold when we believed in Jesus and His finished work on the cross. Our challenge is to hold on to the baton firmly and steadfastly all through the circumstances and vicissitudes of life till the very end. Faith is a promise to believe, a commitment to keep, a covenant to honour. Faith is being sure of what we hope for. What we see and experience in the physical world is neither certain nor sure. It could be taken from us anytime or we could be snatched from it. Faith enables us to exchange the uncertainties of the physical world for the certain or sure hope of the spiritual realm that nobody can take away from us, neither death nor principalities of darkness. With the one certainty that Christ died as our Saviour, once for all and now lives forever as Lord, we can combat a legion of uncertainties.

Faith is most precious as it enables us to have a relationship with the unseen God. Normally, our sight is more powerful than our hearing. We believe what we see more than by what we hear. But, by faith our hearing overpowers our sight. We believe what we hear about God from His Word. It no longer matters that we cannot see Him or touch Him. Faith is indeed the eyesight of the soul. Our spiritual eyes that were blinded hitherto are opened to see the precious blessings and treasures in the promises and Word of God. Normally, substance is something physical and evidence is visible. Here, substance means believing in the substantiated facts of history, that Jesus Christ, a sinless man who proved by His deeds and words that He is of supernatural origin was crucified, died and was resurrected. He once was unseen but now is taken up to sit at the rightful place- on the right hand of God’s throne in the eternal realm. Our faith is rational and based on solid facts as it is based on the evidence in writing left behind by His followers- the disciples and apostles. Faith is not airy-fairy or spiritualism or a ‘ make-believe’ world of fantasy. It is practical, real and down to earth. It is evidence-based. It is experience-based. When we build our faith on Christ, we are building on a solid substance- a rock foundation. Though it starts off as hope in the unseen, over time what is hoped for will be seen and experienced just as Simeon experienced joy when his eyes perceived the child who was born to be Messiah- Jesus. Some of the hopes will be realized and experienced on the other side of the river of life, on the shores of eternity even as Abraham saw his promised child, Isaac but did not live long enough to see the multitudes who were the seed of his kind of faith.

Faith is more precious than gold or silver as the latter can be purchased but faith cannot be purchased. Faith is precious as it is the one thing that pleases God and wins us His favour or grace. Faith is precious as it supplies the missing pieces or answers in the puzzle of life: Who created us? Why were we created? What is our purpose? What is our destiny beyond this life? Who will give us the help and power to live and face the challenges of this life? Faith gives us empirical or experiential evidence, both of ourselves and thousands of people world-wide, of the existence of God, of the character of God, of the existence of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit. Faith is precious as it becomes a living root for our growth and fruitfulness. Faith is precious as it gives us the inner strength to endure and to overcome. It gives us the confidence that whatever be the hurdles or odds or problems, we will prevail and be victorious in the end. Faith is precious as it gives us access to the valuable promises of God contained in the Word. It enables us to wait with hope, joy, optimism and patience for the fulfillment of these specific promises affecting every area of our lives, meeting every need beyond what we can think or ask or imagine. Faith makes us value-able or able to uphold and live up to values or the expectations of character that the Father has for His children. Though faith does not rely on sight, it makes us far-sighted and eternity-focussed.
Prateep V Philip